Positive Equine Connection

01/11/2024

After some thought and reevaluation of where I am today verses where I was when I started this page, I have decided to rename it as it is following a different journey then I was originally on. I want this page to be a place to celebrate equines and how we can connect with them in ways that don't involve fear and dominance theory. I am not a professional trainer and that is why I wanted to remove the training word out of the name. I do consider myself very knowledgeable when it comes to behavior and training and feel very comfortable working with all horses no matter where they are in their journey with humans. I have to ability to share my knowledge and skills with others, but not for a profession but for the love of the horse. I always say be the change you want to see and that is my single goal in life currently. Running the rescue and helping equines as much as I can. When I started on this journey of rescue, training horses wasn't what I envisioned, but I quickly learned just how many horses have "failed" in traditional training or even that the unhandled ones do much better when started in no pressure ways.

Pictured is Penny. 12 yr old mule that I best describe as emotionally traumatized. She is with us for life as we slowly gain her trust.

01/10/2024

A fun little video with snip its of our girls Pixie and Willow.

01/03/2024

Challenge yourself to look deeper and ask yourself the tough questions. Sometimes the answer may surprise you and sometimes it may make you a kinder person. We all start somewhere, and growth is important.

01/01/2024

https://clipchamp.com/watch/3tAfBEdEFd5 Trying out a new Office 365 editing tool for videos that creates the links to them for posting.
Here is me saying hi to Tilly

Watch videos made with Clipchamp, the best video maker for everyone.

01/01/2024

Seeing if this works for a video I made yesterday.

Watch videos made with Clipchamp, the best video maker for everyone.

12/29/2023

14 years ago, my journey with horses was about to change I just didn't know it at the time. Pixie came along and in no uncertain terms showed me if I wanted a relationship with her, I had to change. As the years went, I found myself looking for better ways and questioning everything I had learned in the past. 2015 came around and I took the leap and sold my bridles and bits. Each year that went by I was still evolving and growing in my journey. In the spring of 2022, I jump farther into equine rescue by bringing home 4 unhandled horses that were from a local cruelty case. Long story short I was about to find out how these unhandled horses were going to change my journey with horses even more. With 2024 right around the corner I like most others are reflecting back on the year and what it brought with it. I am finding that I am still learning and growing in my personal journey with equines. I have also found that when you look at the world of horses in a different way it opens up your heart and you start to see the value in a life not just a useful life. You start to see their strengths, their bonds, their lives as herd animals that don't necessarily revolve around us as humans. I stand in awe of these animals that adapt to our human world. In 2024 I want to learn even more and uncover any unconscious bias I have from growing up in the traditional horse world.
To Raven, Dove, Hannah, and River and all the other unhandled horses that I crossed or will cross paths with thank you for the lessons and teaching me to become better.

12/27/2023

In 2024 I am looking forward to continuing my journey of growth and learning.

12/27/2023

The word liberty can hold different meanings to different people and horses. True liberty to me is without strings attached. Now clearly our horses live in a world where they are not truly free because we keep them in fenced pastures, however, to me that doesn't me we can't give them as much choice as possible in what they participate in. If the horse is conditioned to know that if they leave your side, you will punish them then that is not true liberty. Take the time to reflect back and ask if your liberty work is true liberty work. Are you in an area such as a round pen that the horse is conditioned to know it means work? Has your horse been conditioned whips, ropes, etc that you carry? Think about how they are conditioned to the tools that you use. What does that tool truly mean to them?

People seem to be super impressed by bridleless, bitless and tack free riding and training.

But how was it trained and how did it feel for the horse?

Did you see Reinforcement (food) added, without pressure being applied first? If not, what do you think is motivating and maintaining the behaviour?

(Artist unknown)

12/25/2023

12/24/2023

Hannah is from a reservation in Montana one of thousands of horses that roam many of the Native Reservations in the state. I never knew of this problem until the last year. Now I know there are literally thousands of horses that are "wild". These are not the mustangs that everyone knows and cares about these are the ones no one is talking about. She came to our rescue with a baby at her side and now we confirmed she is pregnant due in 2024 spring time we think. These horses are big percentage of the unwanted horse population. They are wild! Often getting rounded up and taken to loose horse sales and sold to slaughter or traders that take them from auction to auction. I currently have 4 reservation mommas at the rescue and spring is just around the corner. Which means more round ups and more babies :( . This is a problem and it needs to be addressed at some level. How exactly I don't know, but we have to do better for the beautiful souls that are the victims of human failures. I am starting the only way I know how, to give a few of these horses a chance at life by taking them home and teaching them that not all humans are bad or scary. Hopefully give them the skills they need to live in our world and find them a forever and loving home, so they never see the inside of an auction house again.

12/23/2023

Why do I practice positive reinforcement training? I often go back to my Pixie who started it all, but really there is more to it. Yes, she was the one that opened my eyes, but as time has gone over the past 13 years, I have seen it work time and time again. It isn't just about the method for me as much as the relationship it builds. A mindset I have now that I didn't have before. I have had to let go of so many of the beliefs I used to have. In fact, in many ways I am still learning and growing. Letting go of beliefs long held on to in the horse world. I hope I never stop learning and only do better and better by the horses that cross my path. It's not a perfect never without fail around here when I work with the horses. I am human, I make mistakes and I am lucky that horses are forgiving. But I can say without a doubt I set out to interact with my herd in a soft and kind way. Someone once said to me horses are silent sufferers. I whole heartly agree with that statement. So, you know what that means to me...it means we as humans have to do better. We have to know they are silent sufferers so each and every time you interact with your horse ask yourself why is your horse doing what you ask? Truly what is motivating them to respond. I asked myself this question years ago and you know what I didn't like the answer I saw. That is why I changed my path and started this journey. Here's the thing I can't unsee what I see now. Once I allowed myself to see the truth it is all I see. I feel I am at a crossroad with my non-profit rescue now. One where I continue or one where I set out to change the status quo when it comes to training and horses. I want to challenge status quo. Show the world these horses that people think are crazy, dominant, dangerous, stupid, lazy, whatever you want to label them are not, they are just pushed by humans to a point of having to scream to get humans to stop mistreating them.

12/23/2023

Every time I see a fb post where a horse trainer has an opinion about (criticises) Positive Reinforcement training, clicker training, training with food, hand feeding, etc I see SO MUCH misinformation.

I see it both from the OP and from their followers. They’re called ‘followers’ for a reason! 😀

Imagine if someone said, I tried pressure and release once and it didnt work for me, so I stopped. Or, I tried Western, but I couldn’t get my horse to slide to a stop first time I tried. Or, I tried dressage, but my horse just wouldn’t collect himself. Or, I tried show jumping, but my horse was scared of those fancy colourful jumps. Or, I tried cross country and my horse galloped past the jumps. Or, I tried endurance riding, but my horse gave up in the early part of the ride. Or, I tried polo, but I just couldn’t hit the ball! 😂

You get the gist?

As in all things, when we are learning a new skill, we start with small baby steps (approximations) and it takes time, effort, practice, study and getting help from coaches.

To make things even more complicated, with Positive Reinforcement training, there are two learners!

To make things even more challenging, most horses have some kind of trauma and baggage, whether it’s your own horse, or a new horse.

To make things even more tricky, we often have to undo old habits and muscle memory and mind set. Step back from the horse if you don’t like what they’re doing!

Again, to make things even more complicated, there’s a whole lot of emotion involved in the training and interactions with our horses, because we care! We want them to enjoy the training and we want to enjoy the training. That’s not always easy or a given, when starting on a big new endeavour like Postive Reinforcement training. There’s so much to it!

There’s also so much misinformation out there!

I regularly get blocked by trainers, even supposedly R+ trainers, for asking questions, asking them to explain their training. So there is a lot of misinformation out there, even in the R+ training world. There is also a lot of not so great training out there.

Take everything people say about their training with a grain of salt.

Use your critical analysis skills and do your own research, don’t take things at face value.

I’ll get off my soap box now 😀

But remember, I didn’t gain the knowledge and skills I have through magic, I gained them through small approximations, practice, study and hard work (and spending money).

Positive Reinforcement training isn’t something you can just try once or twice and expect to be successful at it straight off.

(Inspired by The Pet Behaviourist - Vanessa Ward)

12/22/2023

This! My journey has been one of growing and learning. I will never stop learning and I am happy about that. I wish I knew then what I know now, but I didn't, and I must just seek to make the world a better place for horses moving forward.

If I could go back in time and apologize to all of the horses I’ve harmed through ignorance, I would.

I would tell them that I truly did love them but my love was misguided. I had been taught to love them in the wrong way, in a way that hurt them.

I would tell them that I wish I could have given them more freedom. To have allowed for them to live a life of more abundance, one of a stability and consistency they could only dream of.

I would tell them how I would protect their right to friendships with other horses and do my darnedest to preserve the beautiful relationships they build.

I would show them how I’ve changed. How I’m not so quick to grab a harsher bit or a training gadget to get the instant gratification I so desired, at their expense. How I’ve embraced more lightness and softness.

I would tell them how much better I could listen to them now and how deeply regretful I am for ignoring their voice for so long.

I would tell them how sorry I am, how I’m reminded of the hurt I caused them any time I see a horse in active distress. Any time I see a horse living a shell of a life, confined to a stall with no other stimulation.

I would tell them how that brings me right back to all of the times I had caused them the same pain, while insisting it was for their best interest and that they loved their life.

But, I can’t do any of that.

So, instead, I do what I can now for the horses I have and I speak.

I speak and I speak, even if yelling into the abyss, in hopes that some people will hear me and make positive changes for their horses earlier than what I was able to.

I dedicate a huge portion of my time to thinking about where improvement is needed and vocalizing my belief in the potential for change.

I try, one spark at a time, to ignite an inferno of change, one that may eventually burn down a structure of belief that serves neither horse nor human.

I can’t go back and undo the hurt I caused, but hopefully, I can reduce harm in the present and work towards creating a better world alongside all of the others fighting the same fight.

If I could go back in time and reunite with the horses I’ve hurt, I would thank them for tolerating me and not bringing me harm, despite the harm I brought them.

I would express my eternal gratitude for their kindness and forgiveness

We could all learn a thing or two from horses.

They forgive us time and time again, even when we may not deserve it.

Their gentility and softness is something we should all aspire to have.

So, thank you to the horses I wronged.

I will spend my entire life trying to do better by them and hopefully one day, I can earn the forgiveness they gave so freely even though I didn’t deserve it.

12/10/2023

River came to us with her baby Wind. We had a time limit when they arrived at the rescue as Wind was scheduled for surgery in hopes of fixing her leg deformities. Her story is for another time, today I want to focus on River. This is what we knew of River when she came: she had one other baby and was bought from a WY auction with that baby at her side. The people that bought her and her baby at the auction tried for a year to earn River's trust and halter break her. They finally decided they weren't the best place for her as they couldn't break through to her to seemed. We tried to rehome straight from the owners, but rehoming a wild mare with a baby that had crooked legs wasn't an easy task. Fast forward I started working with River and Wind. River proved to be exactly as the owners had described not mean one bit, but anxious and very untrusting of humans. She would flee if given any opening. We started slowly by working through protective contact with me on the on the outside of the paddock. She learned the cue touch super quick! I used that to my advantage and started using the halter as my target for her to touch. Within a few days she was putting her nose in the halter for me. She was driven and smart! We worked and I pushed her harder than I would have normally because we needed her halter broke for the vet. We met out goal. She was allowing me to halter her and she would lead, but I didn't push it far because it was already a lot for her. She showed by giving stress signals. After we lost Wind, I decided to let River decompress and just go be a horse not a momma. Boy she came alive! She has to be younger as she loves to run and play! She played with the young geldings in the pasture all the time. She started to get curious and engage with people on her own terms. River doesn't like human touch though, she moves aways. Occasionally she will let me pet her cheek and some of her neck, but for the most part she wants nothing to with petting. Currently I work with River mainly at liberty because I can still see the stress signals when the halter is around. We are working on changing her emotional reaction to the halter and lead rope. Giving River the ability to say no and leave when she wants has been the very beneficial to her gaining confidence. River and I work at liberty around the herd within the appx. 10-acre pasture. I need her to have a strong foundation of trust before we can move on to any type of pressure. Remember this girl essentially failed traditional training methods. I see her making the right someone an amazing partner in the future.

12/09/2023

River and I walking out away from the herd to go train. Don't you worry my video skills have not gotten better. Could make you motion sick. 🤣

12/09/2023

This journey and page will be following my rescue equines. They will be up for adoption in most cases, some though are sanctuary. Here are the current equines that the rescue has that need training in some shape or form from completely unhandled to handled with some level of fear in different situations.
Dove
Hannah
Millie
Payton
Tilly
River
Penny
Kidd
Spotty
Blossom

Pictured is River with her baby Wind.

12/09/2023

I think it is time to bring this page back to life. Running a rescue and working with a lot of unhandled horses for the past few years has taught me so very much and I want to find a way to share the joy I have watching these equines grow.